


Intarsia

by zombie_honeymoon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Social Media, Urban Fantasy, Yarn shop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24799744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombie_honeymoon/pseuds/zombie_honeymoon
Summary: Kakuzu owns a yarn shop, with business being less than stellar, he's looking to expand sales online and decides to hire someone. Hidan appears seemingly out of nowhere looking for a job with a resume that doesn't make sense. In fact, nothing about him makes sense to Kakuzu who thinks he's hiding something. It turns out, they both may be hiding something and just might be each others undoing.
Relationships: Hidan/Kakuzu (Naruto)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54
Collections: Naruto Fantasy Week 2020





	Intarsia

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Naruto Magic Week - Prompt: Urban Fantasy
> 
> Please note, the rating very well may go up as this progresses, I'm not sure yet. Tags will be added as needed. 
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, adolescentlycan, who helped me whip this into shape! I actually would not have posted this without her.

Kakuzu looked over the resume on his counter once more, frowning at the scorch mark on the bottom corner, and then looked over the young man. Hidan, his name was. He had shown up quite out of nowhere in the middle of an early summer downpour with not a single raindrop on him. As if he had just popped into existence on the doorstep.

Looking for work, he had said. And strangely enough, Kakuzu was looking for someone, though he hadn’t even put a sign up yet.

Hidan appeared to be fairly young. Skimming over his resume, Kakuzu couldn’t find any mention of his age, but he just couldn’t be old enough to have ever held half of the jobs listed.

Lifting his eyes from the sheet of paper once more, he asked, “How old are you, Hidan?” Hidan blinked, as if he had been zoning out while looking at the selection of knitting needles and crochet hooks on the wall nearby, and Kakuzu thought to just send him away then and there but knew for whatever reasons, he wouldn’t.

“Hm? Oh, thirty three,” Hidan said after a moment, as if not so sure of the answer.

At that, Kakuzu scoffed. Add that to the pile of lies Hidan was telling. While it looked like he could pass for thirty three, he also looked like he could be twenty three, but his eyes, they said something else entirely and Kakuzu had to look away.

Did it matter if he was lying about his age or job experience? Not really, though it begged the question ‘why’.

All that did matter was that he increased sales, didn’t steal or run off customers, and did what he was told. Something told Kakuzu that Hidan might have trouble with the last one, he didn’t know what it was. Hidan _looked_ innocent, but there was something about him. Kakuzu just couldn’t put his finger on it. And maybe, he thought, he didn’t want to.

Everyone had secrets, even him, and if someone tried to figure him out, he wouldn’t be very happy about it, and whoever it was wouldn’t live very long. Feeling his pulse pick up in a strange rhythm, he squashed that thought, forcing his heart rate back to normal.

Something about Hidan drew Kakuzu in, and trying to fight it only dragged him deeper.

It didn’t hurt that he was handsome (Kakuzu hated that he had even noticed). Incredibly so, especially with those eyes. An unusual shade of magenta, they reminded him of someone else while at the same time they were so very different. His hair was similar, too, though only slightly. Hidan’s was darker, a grey that was almost lilac in the soft light of the shop with the storm outside. Neatly slicked back, not a hair out of place.

For the briefest of moments Kakuzu could see _him_ staring back at him with abject horror that shifted into cold hatred, could almost see the flecks of red on his pale skin.

With a shake of his head he glared at Hidan for making him remember and focused on the present. He should have sent Hidan away then and there. Instead he asked, “You do know how to use social media for marketing, yes? Maybe even build a website? Nothing fancy, just something simple that works. Sales have been slow recently. It’s why I’m looking for help.”

“Of course I do. Anything else?”

“Yes. Prove it. Nothing on this says you know anything about marketing!” Kakuzu slammed his hand down on the sheet of paper, “Maybe next time you make up jobs for yourself, you should think of putting something down to help you get the job you actually are trying to land!”

Naval experience. Ironworker. Farmhand. Model. Kakuzu could only see the last one being true. He even dressed like one, slim fitting black button down with a charcoal skinny tie, fitted black pants. A little overdressed for a yarn shop.

Managing to look sheepish as a flush crept up his throat into his face, Hidan took out his phone and opened it, then turned it around for Kakuzu to see, “Take a look. This is my account. See all those followers? See my photos? Pretty damn good, right? I think I know what the fuck I’m doing. And any idiot can make a functioning website to sell some fucking yarn!”

Kakuzu leaned back, arms crossed over his chest, “Why would you want to work here when you have such a wide range of experience? Won’t a yarn shop of all places be boring for you? Do you even know anything about fiber or at the very least how to knit or crochet? People ask for help. If you can’t help, I’m wasting my time and money on you.”

“Well, Mr. Kakuzu, maybe I’m looking for boring” Hidan started, a cocky grin on his face, “Besides, I know a thing or two about wool, and you’d be surprised but I can crochet pretty damn decently. Taught by my granny. Is it really a requirement to work here though? Let’s face it, you’re too fucking old to understand how to use the internet or you wouldn’t be asking me about social media and websites. I can double your sales in three months using instagram alone and get you a functioning website that accepts sales up and running in no time at very little cost if not free. You won’t regret hiring me. Looks like fate brought me to you. Or some other shit did.”

Kakuzu simply levelled a look at him. He could figure out social media if he really wanted, but he was busy and knew he wasn’t as clever with captions and getting attention as someone younger would be.

“I don’t believe in fate, or anything else that can’t be seen and touched. All that brought you here was you needing a job, and maybe a little luck.”

Hidan flashed him a smile, “Sure, that’s all it was.” White teeth caught the light, drawing Kakuzu’s eye, and he thought Hidan’s teeth looked just a little too sharp, and a little too white. His eyes lingered on them as a shiver made its way down Kakuzu’s spine.

Nothing about Hidan seemed normal. Not his eyes, not his resume, not even his teeth.

Kakuzu realized he was still staring at Hidan’s mouth when he spoke.

“Well?” Hidan asked, now leaning on the counter-- when had he gotten so close, Kakuzu hadn’t seen him move. His voice was quiet and low, as one might speak to an animal so as to not spook them, all while a warmth radiated from him, heating the small space between them. Kakuzu looked up from Hidan’s mouth to his eyes that were searching his face for the briefest of moments before he asked, “Do I have the fucking job?”

Hiring him would mean having to pay him, having to spend most of the day with him. Kakuzu wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but the payoff would be more revenue, at least online, and possibly in store as well. Kakuzu had to face it, a lot of his customer base was getting old and dying, and the younger people who came in didn’t seem to like him all that much. Hidan would help with that as well.

Finding himself coming to a decision he strongly suspected he would come to regret, Kakuzu nodded, “I suppose you’ll do. But watch your mouth around customers.”

“I certainly fucking will,” Hidan replied and then leaned back, looking around at the shop. Whatever had transpired between them was suddenly gone, along with that warmth, and the chill settled back in as the rain continued outside.

“Hey, so like, did you inherit this place or something? Because no offense, but you really don’t look like the knitting type. Looks kinda like it was an old house. You live here?”

There was a pause before Kakuzu answered cryptically, “You could say I inherited it. Now stop asking me questions and get ready to learn. Stay out of the upstairs unless I specifically ask you to go up there, which I won’t. Don’t go into the basement either. Nothing’s down there for you. You don’t touch the register. Steal from me, it’ll be the last thing you do,” Kakuzu warned, his green eyes boring into Hidan who had turned around at his words.

Hidan didn’t back down, starring right back, his own eyes dark, “Don’t fucking insult me like that. I may be a lot of things but a thief isn’t one of them. I don’t give a shit about your money.” There was a pause, and Kakuzu felt that warmth between them again as Hidan warned him, “Try and kill me, and you’ll get a one way ticket to hell. I promise it’ll be the last thing _you_ do.”

Neither wanted to look away first, but time was wasting and time was money. Kakuzu had to train his new employee who he was sure knew nothing about fiber, wool, or yarn no matter what he said, and so he finally motioned towards the shop, “If you’re able to start today, I’ll start training you now.”

The corners of Hidan’s lips turned up, “Yeah, today is great, so train me, Kakuzu. Let’s see if you can.”

“I’ve never had any problems training anyone before,” Kakuzu told him, “some just take a firmer hand than others. Something tells me that you’re going to be one of them.”

Hidan hummed, then bit his lower lip, his teeth once more catching Kakuzu’s eye. “I like firm hands.”

* * *

The tour consisted of Kakuzu pointing towards a door near the stairs and saying, “There’s a bathroom there, employees only, keep it clean.”

He then pointed to another door, at the back of the shop as he walked out from behind the counter, “My office is through there and it leads to a garden in the back. You can take your breaks there.”

Kakuzu walked over to a wall with shelves stocked with yarn, “Over here, Hidan.”

Once Hidan had crossed the shop and stood in front of the yarn, Kakuzu explained to him how he liked to organize it. By weight rather than color. It might not have looked as nice but he thought it made it easier for people to find what they wanted. He started with thread weight, then lace, next was fingering--

Hidan snickered at that, then outright giggled as Kakuzu ignored him and mentioned there were different kinds of fingering. Slowly he turned to look at Hidan, unamused, “Pay attention. Screw this up and you’ll be out on your ass looking for another job.”

Hidan ignored him, stepping forward into Kakuzu's personal space to grab a skein of yarn from the shelf, “Damn do your shelves look ugly like this.”

He was so close that Kakuzu could smell him, whatever cologne he wore was spicy, with a hint of musk and tobacco, and something distinctly _Hidan_. He could feel the heat radiate from Hidan, could hear the blood in his veins, pumped through his body by his heart, as if it were calling out to him, calling for him to take-- 

He was _too close._

Seemingly unaware of the turmoil in Kakuzu, Hidan said, “Don’t worry, I won’t fuck up the fingering. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how good I am with this shit.”

He should have fired him right then and there, Kakuzu thought, as something woke up deep inside him. Something that had long since lay dormant. Whatever Hidan was lying about, his work experience was the least of it.

Eyes closed, Kakuzu took a breath. Hidan was… alluring. And not only in appearance. It was his energy that pulled him in. Kakuzu knew now.

It was powerful, dark, and not at all human. And Kakuzu _wanted_. He could nearly taste it and knew it would sustain him for a long time.

Longer perhaps than his last victims. How long had it been since they last fed? Nearly a century, and they were ravenous, demanding _just a taste_.

At that thought, Kakuzu swallowed, a sick feeling taking over. He couldn't. He had promised never to do that again, even if it killed him, and had forced the creature deep inside him to lay down and stay down. He had overcome it before, he wouldn’t let it take control again. Not after everything he had lost because of it.

Even as he pushed the thing back down, he felt the others wake, could hear their hearts beat, echoing in his ears, and wondered if Hidan could hear them, too. Kakuzu knew if he shifted his consciousness he would be able to see through their eyes, slowly opening after decades of rest.

“It was just a fucking joke, can’t you take a joke?” Hidan sighed, thinking he had gone too far, “I’m good with yarn is all I meant.” He moved to put a hand on Kakuzu’s shoulder. “C’mon, I’ll behave--”

Eyes snapping open before Hidan could touch him, Kakuzu spun around to face him, as a deep growl tore from him, _“Move.”_

Shocked at the sound, Hidan scrambled back, dropping the skein of yarn on the floor in the process.

“Shit… what the hell was that?!” Hidan shouted, eyes wide.

“You shouldn’t have touched me,” Kakuzu growled, taking a breath and swallowed hard, fighting as he felt those _things_ crawling up his throat. His eyes squeezed shut as his vision darkened and the red crept in.

Hidan took another step back, his hand going to his chest, gripping something through his shirt.

Opening his eyes, Kakuzu continued, sounding as if nothing had happened, though slightly hoarse, “A shipment is coming in at the end of the week. I want you to start that instagram account before it gets here so you can add the new stuff to it.” He stepped away, running a hand through his long hair, never looking back at Hidan as he started for his office, “And you start on that website, too. That’s mainly why I hired you. And just stay away from me. That is, if you’re not quitting.”

“I’m gonna need to use a computer for that website!” Hidan called to him, “Where the hell are you going?!”

Kakuzu ignored him, shutting the door to his office and going outside. He needed to get himself under control before he did something he would regret.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked it, please leave a comment, It helps me know I'm not on my own and that people are interested in my fics.
> 
> Find me on tumblr @fickle-mused and say hello!


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